Theme Your Gift Circle

Editor's Note: The Daily Citron has finally moved to it's very own website- instead of being hosted here on Blogspot, it will be hosted at www.dailycitron.com.  Please visit over there for news tips on how to save your money, manage it well, and spend it happily!
An excellent way to enjoy gift-giving during the holidays without breaking your budget is to start a gift circle among the group of people that you typically exchange gifts with (you might have one circle for your family and one for your group of close friends). That way, you're only buying one gift, but everyone gets to enjoy the process of giving and receiving. You can add more fun to the process by creating a theme for that year's presents.
As you might remember from a recent post, my husband's family does a gift circle each year, with a purchase limit of $40. (At Thanksgiving we write our names on pieces of paper, put them in a hat (or whatever) and draw names.) A couple years ago we decided to create a theme for that year's presents, so no matter which name you drew, you had to find a present that fit within the theme. Here are the themes that we use:

• Food (possible gifts: cooking/baking/BBQ utensils/actual food to eat/cookbooks/gift cert to grocery store or restaurant…) 
• Clothing and accessories (possible gifts:clothes, hats, belts, scarves, jewelry, socks, boxers shorts, tank tops…) 
• Home (possible gifts:housewares,home improvement tools, house decorations/art, garden tools…) 
• Feet (possible gifts:shoes, slippers, athletic socks, dress socks, toe nail polish, pedicure kit, gift cert for pedicure) 
• Outdoor activities (possible gifts:camping/hiking/hunting/fishing gear, exercise clothes/equipment, beach stuff, garden tools…) 
• Rest, Reading and Relaxation (possible gifts:pajamas, books, slippers, spa stuff, magazine subscriptions, tea) 

Although a theme might feel limiting (what if you wanted to buy your sister a scarf, but it's a "Feet" theme?), I find that on the whole it results in more creativity and more fun.  Instead of people opting for the default presents (sweater for Dad, fancy soap for Mom) they are prompted to think "outside the box."

Do you use gift circles or gift themes for the holidays?

Feel free to leave comments! If you don’t have a Google account, just select “Name/URL” or “Anonymous” in the comment form. Make sure your pop-up blocker isn’t blocking the security screen. Thanks for reading!